


Espoused

by Pepperweb



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Arranged Marriage, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Happy Ending, M/M, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-08 16:27:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15934166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pepperweb/pseuds/Pepperweb
Summary: Taako is a young, omega elf who's come of age and it's now time for him to get married when all he wants to do is go to cooking school.Kravitz is a restless, alpha agent of death with something missing from his life and his boss is determined to make him find it.Fate (or Istus) leads them down the aisle to each other. Is she really that cruel, or does she know something we dont?





	Espoused

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Everyone,
> 
> So I started listening to TAZ: Balance, in hospital because Lord I needed something to keep me going in there and it was PERFECT. I happily continued listening after being discharged and whoops! There was my whole Summer gone. No regrets.
> 
> Super happy to feel inspired enough to start writing again. Hope you like the story, I chose the word 'Espoused' for the title because it means to marry but also to stand up for, to advocate, to embrace and to defend :)  
> Knowing my track record of being unable to write short fics, I expect this to be more than a couple of chapters, but who knows! Enjoy!

‘Excuse m- actually no, fuck excuse me, this is fucking bullshit,’ Taako announced to the kitchen as his grandma continued to roll out the pastry seemingly oblivious to his outburst.

‘Definitely fucking bullshit,’ seconded Lup from where she was sitting on the kitchen counter, licking her fingers after dipping them in the boiled-down Apple pan. The twins were at their regular stay at their Grandma’s house for the Summer; part of the annual pass-the-twins rotation around differing extended family members.

 _‘Language_ you two,’ chided Grandma as she dusted more flour on the worktop. ‘And I don’t know what you’re complaining about Taako, I happen to be of the mind that it’s good for a young omega to get married. Now hand me the knife.’

‘I’m being fucking _sold.’_ Taako cried, as he passed her the pastry knife and his grandma started to cut out a perfect circle of pastry for the pie tin. ‘Like a piece of meat at a deli counter.’

‘Or an expensive cheese,’ added Lup, a glint in her eye.

‘A _very_ expensive cheese,’ corrected Taako. ‘But the point is Nana, why can’t I just, you know, _not_ get married? Why can’t I just go to cooking school?’

‘Taako dearie, I don’t know why you’re asking _me_ ,’ replied Grandma.

‘Because you’re the matriarch of the family or some such shit,’ said Lup, hopping down off the counter to stand on the other side of the elf-elder.

‘What you say means something Nana,’ said Taako. ‘ _Please,_ ’ he pleaded. ‘Don’t let them marry me off.’

‘Sweetheart you’ll be safe and happy and protected when you’re married,’ replied their grandma, ‘And I’m sure if you ask your new spouse they’ll let you go to that cookery class or whatever it is.’

Taako turned away from his grandma, fighting back tears. She’d been his last hope; he’d been holding out for months, waiting until they were palmed off to her after their Auntie had had her yearly fill. Lup had said that their grandma might have some sway, that if they convinced _her_ that Taako didn’t need to marry then surely the rest of the family would come around to the idea. It was so fucking medieval, this idea that he needed to be married off because he was an omega and had come of age.

But now it seemed as if no-one in the family was going to go against this decision, and there was no one left to ask. The decision now seemed inescapable.

‘ _I’ll_ just marry you Taako,’ declared Lup, ‘No one ever tells Alphas what to do.’ Taako turned back around to his sister, feeling grateful at her heartfelt, but impossible suggestion.

‘You’ll do no such thing young lady!’ cried Grandma, whacking Lup’s hand with the flat of the pastry knife. ‘Now get out of my way whilst I finish this pie. Taako stop sulking and Lup stop yelping, I hardly did you any harm. Sit down and behave. I’ll hear nothing more on this marriage matter. Unless it’s about the ceremony. Taako you can have my pearls. See? That’s more than your alpha sister will get at her wedding.’

Both Taako and Lup scowled but there was nothing more they could do. Grandma was not to be moved on the decision.

And that night as they lay under the covers together after sneaking into the same bed, Lup took Taako’s hands and held them up to her face.

‘I promise, I promise, I’ll find a way out for you.’ She said, kissing his hands. ‘I’ll learn fucking magic, they can’t say no to that, they’re desperate for another magic user in the family. And then I’ll come and fucking rescue you, I won't let them marry you off.’

‘We should have run away when we had the chance,’ he whispered.

‘They’d have killed you.’ Lup said,  now stroking his face; his brow, his cheek, along his long pointed nose so very like hers. ‘And I couldn’t have let them do that. You are my world.’

Taako took in a shaky breath. It was true, he’d have brought shame on the family and either they would have killed him or he’d be killed out on the road; an un-mated omega with no family or spousal protection, only a barely-of-age Alpha sister which wouldn’t have been enough. Besides, the chance for escape was next to nothing. He’d been under lock and key since he’d presented as omega 4 years ago. His only destiny to marry and then be no longer a burden to the family.

‘Maybe it won’t be so bad,’ he said, the words falling from his lips so quietly, Lup had to lean in closer to hear him.

‘Taako, it doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad,’ she replied softly, understanding him of course, ‘The point is you don’t get to _choose._  It’s outrageous. I’m sure it’s illegal in most places, we just happen to live in this fucking back-of-beyond province… but don’t worry brother, I’ve got a plan, all you have to do is stall for a few months. I wonder if we can fake you being sick for a while. I just need more time to work a few things out, you’ll see.’

But Taako had closed his eyes and let his sister’s scheming wash over him. It wasn’t that he wanted this forced marriage, he really fucking didn’t, but he just saw it as inevitable now. His back was against the wall and the only person in his corner was his sister who, despite being an Alpha had hardly any more power in this situation than him. This marriage was coming, and he’d better start preparing himself for it

 He fell asleep, Lup’s quiet plotting sending him off to darkness.

 

*~*

 

Kravitzzzz I am worried about you.’ The Raven Queen said in that deep, hissing voice of hers. ‘You don’t seem yoursssself lately.’

‘Hmmm?’ asked Kravitz, turning from where he’d stood at the edge of the black lake in the Astral Plane, lost in thought. When he saw who it was he immediately removed his top hat and held it in his hands.

‘You are dissstracted, always thinking. Your mind is turbulent and heavy.’ She came towards him, down the slope to join him at the edge of the lake. The souls swirling in the murky waters, vanished with haste as she approached.

‘I am sorry my Queen,’ replied Kravitz stiffly, ‘I will do better.’

‘You already do your besssst,’ she said softly, reaching a bony hand out to pat him on the shoulder. It would have felt like ice, if he weren’t already so cold. ‘And I am pleased. Beyond pleased with your work for me. That is why I dislike to see you like thisss.’

‘Like what, my Queen?’ asked Kravitz, genuinely not understanding what she meant.

She sighed heavily, reaching long fingers up to scratch at her skull, dislodging her crown slightly. ‘Kravitzzz my dear. What do you do when you are not working for me?’

Kravitz frowned, ‘I…I don’t understand Ma’am. I am always working for you?’

‘Oh you silly child,’ she said, ‘You think I don’t notice? That you work job after job, mission after mission, collecting all those scoundrelous souls, never stopping, never going home to resssst?’

‘I don’t have a home, Ma’am.’

‘Exxxactly’ said the Raven Queen in a tone of triumph. ‘You are entitled to one, didn’t you know? And time off…I am not an outrageous employer. You have the power to create a dwelling, you could have found a nice spot in this Plane, but I think it’s telling,’ she said, her dark eye sockets boring into him now, ‘That you never once tried to settle down here, that you’ve never been comfortable enough to make this your home.’

‘But where else is there for me?’ he asked, a tendril of fear working it’s way up his spine. ‘Ma’am I do not wish to be dismissed.’

‘NO!’ she cried, slamming her staff down on the ground and turning away from him and pacing two and fro. ‘You are clearly more dense than I thought…..’ she hummed and paced a little more. All the while Kravitz found himself standing awkwardly, hands twisting around the rim of his top hat. She whirled on him all of a sudden, her long, feathered, shroud billowing in the breeze off the lake.

‘Kravitz I am giving you a promotion for all your hard work and as such it starts with paid leave. I want you to go out to the other Planes and find a _home_ for yourself. Make yourself a dwelling, create an abode, build a nessst. Something _somewhere_ where you can find a little peace. You are restless and it clogs your mind like damp weed.’

Kravtiz stood in shock, staring at his Queen. She stared right back; she would always win that context, on account of having no eyes.

‘I-I’ he stuttered, ‘How long is this leave?’

‘ _Go’_  she ordered. ‘Make a home, a den, a place of residence. Come back when it is done-I will miss you whilst you are gone.’

And with a toothy smile she dissolved into smoke.

Kravitz turned on his heel and began to walk back around the edge of the lake, his mind in turmoil. Where was he to go? Another plane? _Paid leave?_ To build a _house?_ The Raven Queen was characteristically irregular, but this was on a level that Kravitz, in his long, long years of being her servant had never experienced.

With a grimace he withdrew his scythe from the ether and opened up a rift to another Plane of existence.

 


End file.
